Band:	Scarab
Album:	Martyrs Of The Storm
Style:	Brutal death metal
Release date:	March 06, 2020
A review by:	musclassia

01. Martyrs Of The Storm
02. Necropotence
03. Kingdom Of Chaos [feat. Karl Sanders]
04. Blood Moon Shadows
05. Circles Of Verminejya
06. The Dwellers Beneath
07. Oblivious Sanctum
08. Coffin Texts
09. Saturnian
10. Upon The Pagan Lands

When one thinks of "Egypt" and "death metal", one's mind instinctively goes to Nile; however, it doesn't help when Egypt's own death metal bands bring in Nile members to guest on their records.

Scarab have been around for nearly 15 years since their rebranding from Hate Suffocation; however, the group aren't the most prolific, with Martyrs Of The Storm only their third full-length outing, and first batch of new music since 2015's solid Serpents Of The Nile. The album was replete with thick mid-tempo death metal grooves, with middle Eastern influences infused into the atmospheric keyboards, lead guitar lines and occasional use of clean vocals. Serpents Of The Nile was hookier and slightly more melodically inclined than Nile's recent output, but was perhaps slightly one-dimensional given its runtime. Martyrs Of The Storm, featuring a myriad of guest musicians including Nile's Karl Sanders, is for the most part a case of "more of the same".

That's not entirely fair. The opening track on the album, "Martyrs Of The Storm", is more aggressive than the lion's share of the material on Serpents Of The Nile; whilst more structured than something like Wormhole, the "brutal" death metal tag that Scarab has somehow acquired feels slightly more appropriate here. There's lots of buzzsaw death metal riffing drawing inspiration from the classic late 80's/early 90's (Morbid Angel are a commonly named reference for this band, and it's hard to disagree), and also more full-pelt blasting going on here. The drumming in general has perhaps upped the ante in terms of intensity; however, these differences are relatively minor. Certainly, there aren't any songs on Martyrs Of The Storm that would stick out like a sore thumb if included on its predecessor. The mid-tempo grooves atop double bass rolls followed by Eastern-influenced guitar leads in "Necropotence" immediately identify the track as a Scarab piece.

Overall, the quality is high here throughout. The production has improved this time around, whilst the savage riffs, dense growls and relentless percussion retain all of their appeal. However, with an album this single-minded and lengthy, it can be a challenge to retain the same levels of interest throughout. There are certain characteristics to differentiate individual tracks, whether the frenetic OSDM-inspired soloing on "Kingdom Of Chaos", slower crawl of parts of "The Dwellers Beneath" or shorter, more straightforward nature of "Circles Of Verminejya". For the most part, however, these differences are very minor. In fact, I would be tempted to argue that despite the shorter songs and greater number on Martyrs Of The Storm, there's less variety than on Serpents Of The Nile, and the middle Eastern influences in the music don't feel as striking on most of the songs. Ultimately, this is another solid rendition of an enjoyable and relatively distinctive sound from Scarab; beyond that, how much you crave diversity will be a major factor in the mileage you get out of this record.